​Renée Dahlia’s second novel, In Pursuit of a Bluestocking, (releases 12 October from Escape Publishing).Hi Annie. Thanks for inviting me to sit in your chair and discuss my novel.​Welcome, Renée. You’ve recently been travelling, was that for research or fun?Fun of course, although that is a great question to ask a workaholic writer who can’t resist historical research. For nearly a decade my husband and I discussed a grand overseas adventure, mulling over many different options. Children, work, and house renovations took precedence, but eventually last year we decided it was time. We decided on London as the base, and ended up doing an industrial revolution tour of England and Wales. Much of the trip revolved around my husband’s desire to visit the birth of civil engineering, therefore we saw many Thomas Telford designed bridges, as well as the Brunel Museum. For my writing research, I made sure we saw plenty of Victorian era houses, with highlights being Cardiff Castle and Erddig. Most of the Bluestocking series is set in London (although the first, To Charm a Bluestocking, is set entirely in Amsterdam), and museums such as the London Transport Museum provided a great overview on how the city looked and worked in the 1880s.We came home with many reference books, and my creative well filled full of ideas. We had an utterly brilliant time, even a month in a motorhome with six of us hasn’t quelled our enthusiasm for each other. The children travelled well, dealing with the squashed truck, the rain, and being dragged around “too many castles, about seventy billion of them.” You can read about our many adventures on my blog at: http://www.reneedahlia.com/category/travel/The second book in my Bluestockings series, In Pursuit of a Bluestocking is out now. It’s basically a train chase from Amsterdam, through Paris, and ending up in England. There are conmen, a murder, and plenty of romance!You can keep in touch with me at my facebook page, or on my website.WebsiteFacebook

Blurb and book links:When he goes hunting a thief, he never expects to catch a bluestocking...Marie had the perfect life plan: she would satisfy her father’s ambition by graduating as one of the first female doctors in Europe, and she would satisfy her mother’s ambition by marrying a very suitable fiancé in a grandiose society ceremony. Only weeks away from completing the former, Marie is mere days away from achieving the latter. But her whole life is thrown into chaos when her fiancé dies, mysteriously returns, and then is shot and killed, and Marie risks her own reputation to save the life of the man falsely accused of the murder.Gordon, Lord Stanmore, finally tracks down the conman who stole from his estate, only to find himself embroiled in a murder plot. The woman he rescues offers to rescue him in return, by marrying him and providing an alibi. Gordon’s ready agreement to the scheme grows the more time he spends with his new wife. Her wit, her intelligence, her calm, her charm: Gordon finds himself more and more enchanted with this woman he met by mistake. But as the clues to the identity of the murderer start to align with the clues to the thief, they reveal a more elaborate scheme than he could have imagined, and though he might desire Marie, Gordon is unsure if he can trust her.As their chase leads them out of Amsterdam and into the UK, both Gordon and Marie must adjust to the life that has been thrust upon them and decide if marriage came first, can love come after?LinksEscape Amazon Aus Amazon USAiBooksBooktopiaGoogle Play